Chapter 7
“All right, everyone, settle down. As you’ve all figured out by now, we were hit with an EMP,” Harden said.
“Not that we aren’t thrilled that you’re here, boss, but it’s a little early for your shift, isn’t it?” Alan asked.
She smiled at him. “I have a stack of paperwork on my desk that doesn’t care about the nine-to-five hours. Plus, I wanted to be here in case something like this happened. It’s a good thing I did, too, not that I don’t trust you all.”
“So, what’s the plan, Cap?” Sarah asked.
“We’ve got a procedure in place for power outages. It doesn’t look like the boxes protected the generators. In addition, many of you have noticed your phones and flashlights aren’t working, either. The morning shift will be here in two hours. When they arrive, we’ll start getting this sorted out.”
Sarah listened as the captain started laying out what they would do for the next few hours.
As much as they wanted to wait it out, there were still things that had to be done.
A handful of the men imprisoned at the facility needed medications that would have to be logged by hand.
They were going to have to work together as a team to make sure everything got done.
Thankfully, in a few hours, they would have relief on the way, along with a team of people to get the power restored.
The morning shift would have to work double time to get meals out.
If asked, Sarah had no problem with staying on longer to help out.
The extra cash would help cover the six weeks she’d be without a paycheck in the fall.
Turning her attention back to the captain, Sarah listened as she spoke.
One day, Sarah wanted to be the one running things, and Harden was an amazing leader to learn from.
“They should already have relief teams en route, and the first shift crew will be here at their normal times. Until then, we’re on lockdown.”
“How long will the facility be on lockdown?” one of the officers asked.
“For now, it’s going to be this way at least until the morning count. I don’t want to take any chances of something getting out of hand.”
“What about the electronics being down? We have no way to contact anyone or get information from the state.”
“Look, I don’t have any more information than any of you have.
As far as I know, they are sorting out the problem.
I have no idea how long it’s going to take or when we will be back online.
Until then, we follow protocol. Don’t do anything outside of the normal procedures that have been set in place. ”
Sarah knew things would be difficult without the power, but she had no idea how long they’d be able to sustain a healthy environment for the inmates in their care.
Still, it surprised her that there were so many questions from the other staff members.
For the most part, it didn’t matter what the situation was.
There were things in place to take care of any situation.
She continued to listen to Harden as she spoke to the group and answered questions.
Suddenly, one of the officers came in from another block.
“None of the cars have any power. It doesn’t look like any of us are getting out of here anytime soon.”
The group of officers started to mumble amongst themselves.
Sarah still wasn’t bothered much by the situation.
If there was anything her parents taught her had stuck, it was the idea to be prepared for anything.
It was interesting to hear how Harden handled everything.
She felt lucky to have a strong woman to learn from if she was to ever take over the same position.
“Anything I hear, I’ll pass along at morning roll call. We have a few hours until then, so I need each of you to get back to your posts. Work doesn’t stop, even if it is the end of the world.” Harden smiled.
As they all started to part ways and head back to their blocks, Sarah thought about the stalled cars in the lots.
It was strange that such a powerful hit was isolated.
She was curious to learn how far out it went, but the questions would have to wait for the relief shift to come.
It was infuriating that the government had gotten the location of the solar storm hitting so incredibly wrong.
It wasn’t that much of a surprise, given how often they screwed up.
Watching the group move away, Sarah headed for Adam’s cell.
In the chaos, she hadn’t been able to tell Adam what she had learned about his case.
There was no way any of the prisoners were still sleeping after the posse of guards moved through.
She wanted to go right to his cell and tell him the good news, but before she could, Alan grabbed her arm.
The captain and one of the other guards were still in the common room.
Her heart raced. Alan had known where she was going and had protected her.
If the captain knew how fond she was of Adam, there would be consequences.
At the very least, it would be a written note in her file, and that was something her budding career couldn’t take.
Smiling at her friend and silently thanking him, she quickly headed back to the common room to see if the captain needed anything else.
The last thing she wanted was to appear like she was lingering around and doing nothing.
It didn’t take long for the guard to leave the captain, and Meredith turned to Sarah.
She gave the woman an exhausted head shake as she approached Sarah.
For the first time since starting at Glenwood, Sarah noticed a fatigued look in her boss’s eyes.
“Sarah, how are you holding up with all of this going on?”
“I’m doing all right. I just want the power to come back on or the morning sun to give us some light.” Sarah chuckled.
“It shouldn’t be much longer now. I think we’re about an hour away from the sun shining through all these windows. It will be a lot better when it does,” Meredith said. “How’s your block doing?”
“They’re all doing pretty well, for the most part. I still need to get down to the storage room and get the flashlights.”
“I wouldn’t even bother wasting your time on that. All the other blocks have already grabbed the flashlights, and there isn’t a single one that works. Whatever this solar storm contained, it seemed to do a number on anything electrical.”
“Well, shit,” Sarah muttered.
Meredith laughed. “I know this isn’t the ideal thing you wanted to hear, but we’re going to get through this. We’ve got a protocol for the power outage, and I’m sure they’re working on this situation as we speak.”
“Sure, not going to make our job any easier until they get it fixed. Still, I’m sure they’ll get it all figured out.”
“They will. Just keep your chin up and follow what we’re supposed to do. It will be light out soon, and everything will be a lot smoother when it is.”
Meredith turned and walked away. Sarah tried to think of a plan to help some of the inmates, but she hated that there was nothing she could do for John.
It was one thing to give him a flashlight, but it was a termination-level offense to give an inmate a lit candle.
She couldn’t risk her job, but the sun would be coming up soon, and the light would filter in.
As she watched Harden leave out the far doors, Sarah headed for Adam’s cell.
The time had come for him to learn that he would soon be a free man.
She drew a breath to steady herself, knowing it was wrong for her to be procrastinating.
Adam deserved his freedom. Hopefully, he would be able to get compensation from the government for being wrongly imprisoned.
The chances of that happening were relatively good, considering it had been crooked officers who had put him behind bars to start with.
She wanted to be happy for her friend, but it was still a bittersweet moment as she approached his cell.
Just as she’d suspected, he was still awake and sitting at the end of his bunk.
The light from the candle gave away her approach.
He stood and smiled at her, making her heart race once again.
Sarah hated herself for having feelings for the man.
They confused and upset her. There was no way that she was going to tell him or anyone else how she truly felt.
Her job was everything to her. Sharing how she felt would only create more confusion for Adam.
He didn’t deserve that after ten years of being unfairly institutionalized.
As Adam approached the bars, Sarah forced herself to smile at him and bury the feelings deep down. With any luck, they would stay there.